p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Creation and Internet would be more properly named Dissolution of the Internet.

Nick-named HADOPI, it’s the title of the French anti-P2P, anti-P2P law which, to the unmitigated shock and horror of the movie and music industries and French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was rejected 21-15 by the sparcely attended attended French Assembly on April 9, only a week after being passed by the lower house..

Now it’ll resume at the French Assemby on April 29, Billboard has French deputy Jean-François Copé saying.

“The rejection was considered by the government as an accident due to a dozen deputies of opposing socialist party taking part of the vote at the very last moment, thus putting ruling party UMP in the minority and without time to gather more of their own deputies,”" says the story, adding:

“Ministry of Culture Christine Albanel, who introduced the draft bill, threatened to leave quit [sic] should the bill not pass; it is likely that it will be adopted, with UMP this time taking care of having enough troops present in both assemblies.”

HADOPI was to have started sending out warnings in July, says The Economist, going on only 15 members of Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, “which wrote the bill,” were there for the final vote.

It’s usually just a matter of procedure – both houses of parliament had already approved the law’s main elements – says the story, but, “At the last moment a group of Socialist members rushed in to oppose it”.

According to Libération, the Socialists, “had hidden behind heavy curtains in the entrance to the parliamentary chamber,” states the story, going on»»»

Opponents of the law hope this defeat might be enough to kill it. The low turnout by the UMP, they argue, suggests that many in Mr Sarkozy’s own party are afraid of backing a measure that is highly unpopular, particularly among young people. Music and film companies, meanwhile, are confident that the law will eventually pass. Mr Sarkozy is determined to push it through parliament later this month. He first met his wife, Carla Bruni, a musician who has supported the law, at a presentation of a report on internet piracy by Denis Olivennes, former boss of Fnac, a retailer. Mr Olivennes’s report led directly to the HADOPI law.

Even if it is adopted, argues Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, the head of ACSEL, a group representing French internet firms, the new law will be ineffective. Downloaders will sign up for anonymised and encrypted internet connections, he suggests, and will download content from people outside France, who are beyond the reach of the law.

Germany, worried about privacy, recently decided against adopting a similar law. But Italy’s government has said that it might copy the French. Britain is thought to be moving towards something similar; last year it declared its intention to reduce illegal file-sharing by 70-80% in the next two or three years.

“Best keep an eye on goings-on in Gaul,” The Ec0nomist concludes.

Definitely.

Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, on the one hand, and Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney  on the other, won’t be sitting idly by, watching the expensive and carefully orchestrated French component of their three strikes policy come unglued.

More to come.

Lots more.

rejected 21-15 – French 3 strikes law strikes out!, April 9, 2009
Billboard -  French Three-Strike Law Debate To Resume, April 15, 2009

Trois strikes and you’re out